


Between Life and Death

by angelus2hot



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Community: 1_million_words, Episode Related, Gen, Past Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:58:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7093357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelus2hot/pseuds/angelus2hot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set after Season 5 Episode The Gift. They want to bring Buffy back. Spike knows better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Between Life and Death

**Author's Note:**

> **Title:** Between Life and Death  
>  **Fandom:** Buffy the Vampire Slayer  
>  **Characters/Pairing:** Spike, Tara, Xander, Willow  
>  **Rating:** PG-13  
>  **Word Count:** 489  
>  **Summary:** Set after Season 5 Episode The Gift. They want to bring Buffy back. Spike knows better.  
>  **A/N:** written for 1_million_words' [Number challenge](http://1-million-words.livejournal.com/1675578.html)

"For the eighty-sixth time." Spike's vampire visage came through as his control slipped. The pain in his head barely registered through the anger. _How dare they even think about doing this!_ "You can't do it! You can't bring her back." He ignored the heartbreak of thinking he would never see her again. But no matter how much he missed her he knew there were some things you just didn’t mess with. And the balance between life and death was one of them. A growl escaped him. There had to be a way to get through to them.

"Why not?" Three voices spoke in unison.

Spike stared down at the three of them sitting on the couch in front of him as if they’d each grown another head. "Because there are consequences, repercussions to what you're thinking of doing. You can’t just go around messing with life and death."

Xander jumped up from his seat and glared at Spike. "You can't tell me you don't want her back!"

He fought hard to control of his anger allowing his vampire visage to slowly slip away. "Of course I want her back." No matter how hard he tried to disguise it his voice was husky with emotion. “There's not a day that goes by that I don't. I know I could never... that we would never. But just knowing she was in the world made it better. She made me want to be better." Spike took a deep unneeded breath before he whispered, "But you can't bring her back. You just can't."

A wave of relief swept through him as he watched Xander’s shoulders slump.

With a look of defeat on his face Xander turned to face Tara and Willow. "The man's right."

Spike's mouth fell open. This was the first time that Xander had ever referred to him as a man. 

“What do we do? How do we let Buffy go?”

That was enough for Spike. He couldn’t stand there and listen to how hard it was to live without Buffy. He already knew. He lived without her every single day. And he damn sure didn’t want to talk about it. Without another word Spike turned and walked out the door.

Xander waited until he had locked the door behind Spike before he turned to face Tara and Willow. “You heard the man.” He repeated the words he’d said to Spike before he added, “We bring her back.”

Tara’s face was etched in confusion as she stared back at Xander. “But... Spike said...” 

Xander rocked back on his heels. “What I heard was he wanted her back.” 

Willow nodded her head in agreement. “That’s what I heard too.” She grabbed a handful of ancient books from the shelf beside her and laid them out on the table. 

“Let’s do this.” The three of them whispered at the same time as they sat out to bring Buffy back to where she belonged.


End file.
